Archives for 2015

Whether you have been speaking for years as a professional, or you have only recently taken up the position and are about to make your first business conference speech, it can be a nerve-wracking and stressful experience. In addition to conducting relevant research prior to your talk, making sure you have any presentations to hand and slides all in order, as well as checking on various power outlets that may be needed, you can also help to improve your conference speech with the assistance of an Audience Response System.

CLiKAPAD provide a wide range of state-of-the-art audience response systems for conferences and business events, where audience participation can really help keep your delegates involved and interacting with you. With the ability to choose from a variety of options, you can get instant feedback on the quality of your speech and use it to improve or amend any future presentations you may be hosting.

Breaking up the Flow; Keeping it Short and Snappy!

With the help of an Audience Response System, you have a way of breaking up the talk into more manageable chunks, punctuated by questions or games in which you make full use of the ARS. While this is less useful for short speeches or presentations, for longer, more drawn out speeches this is an ideal way of keeping the attention of your delegates without having to resort to more desperate means.

You can also regularly ‘check in’ with your delegates in this way, asking their opinion of the speech so far, asking what they would like to discuss or hear more about with regards to the subjects approached in the presentation. It is a good way of making sure you stay on track and that you are aware of the impact your speech is having on its audience.

Games to Help Cement the Points of the Speech

While standing and talking to a number of guests for a set period of time might sound all very exciting and easy to understand for you, some people retain information in different ways. By incorporating games and questions into your speech with an ARS, you can help cement any points you have made. You will also help to keep the morale and the mood high, which is particularly useful for longer talks.

Using an Audience Response System to Get Feedback

At the end of the day, using an Audience Response System is a great way of getting instant feedback on the quality of your speeches. If you are worried that you didn’t get the message across quite right, or if something was unclear, the Audience Response System will be able to provide useful insight into how you can improve the next time you hold a conference. Not everyone will speak up as and when they find something confusing or unclear, so it is important to get valuable feedback from everyone in the audience and not just those vocal few.

By combining the Audience Response System with a number of other techniques to improve the way presentations are made, businesses can spend more time working productively and less time figuring out the best structure for a dynamic conference when addressing attendees.

It comes as no surprise that many businesses are using CLiKAPAD Audience Response Systems as a means of obtaining a large collection of data in a shorter amount of time, but have you considered what you can do with such data, if you obtain it from a target audience?

When addressing a number of attendees at a work conference or speech, relevant research may be done to determine the best method for keeping the attention of your audience. This can be through feedback surveys or encouraging responses throughout the conference and a whole range of other techniques. However it can also be a good idea to record audience feedback once again after the conference, to see if there are any misgivings about the conference itself or the delivery of a particular speech.

How can a company go about this and what can they do with the feedback given?

Step 1 – Getting the Data

By using a state-of-the-art CLiKAPAD Audience Response System, you can create a multiple choice questionnaire for the audience. You could also include additional comments for your target audience to voice any questions or concerns. This can be done throughout the conference or at a separate point following a conference. Once you have gathered your feedback, you’ll want to start collecting useful data from it.

Step 2 – Taking on Board and Actioning a Response to Feedback

Certain audiences respond more positively to presentations, than others and it is important to take into account what worked and what didn’t in these situations. Businesses can sometimes misread an audience, you can be sure that your audience will provide feedback on how to improve for the next seminar. By reading through and taking on board feedback provided from the delegates at your event, you can begin to create a tailor made product better suited to the needs of your audience.

Step 3 – Product Changes or Re-Branding Products

Once customer feedback has been received and responded to, you can start changing your conference structure or speech to fit guest needs better. Companies can then use this feedback to better correspond with the needs of the delegates in preparation for the next event.

For example, if market research determined that the customer preferred a shorter presentation from each speaker but with a longer group interaction or session, whereas the Audience Response System showed a greater preference for a singular speech covering all the topics planned for discussion, followed by a short question and answer session, you can make these amendments and correct them in future conferences showing your response to valuable client feedback. In doing this you create a communication between your conference organisers ‘assumptions’ and what your delegates are actually interested in, in order to improve their experience with the event as a whole

In short, listening to client feedback, is incredibly important and often contributes to the growth and increased client base of any company.

Organising a conference efficiently is absolutely essential if you want to maintain that professionalism that is so important in today’s competitive commercial world. There are also numerous features that you need to include in your modern day conference in order to live up to or perhaps even exceed the expectations of your audience, such as the inclusion of Audience Response Systems and other forms of technology. Here are three important tips you must use when planning a conference…

Location – Make it Easily Accessible

An example of this would be having your conference within Zone 1 rather than branching out and making it more difficult for people to get to your event. Some people will be leaving work early or travelling at peak hours to make your conference, so keep it simple and base your conference somewhere where travel options are plentiful.

Cover the Tech Side Early

Technical glitches are the bane of any conference organiser as they disrupt timing and create a seemingly unprofessional depiction of your event. Make sure that you make the most of the help of tech experts, for instance our expert assistance here at CLiKAPAD regarding our clicker systems, or the venue themselves who can show you the ins-an-outs of their available tech options.

Share Progress Feedback and Info

Almost always neglected by so important if you’re planning on hosting another conference in future is the feedback you get form your audience. The day isn’t over when you stop talking or the demonstration comes to an end, so make sure you thank people for coming, hand over questionnaires to be filled out and ask questions during breaks or the after-party.

For more information regarding our Audience Response Systems here at CLiKAPAD, call us on 03333 448 550 and our friendly team will be happy to help.

Audience Response in the Commercial Environment

Audience response systems have already been used widely as interaction devices for large groups of people in meetings or conferences. They give people the opportunity to get involved with questions asked during conferences both equally and discreetly. The handheld devices are often distributed beforehand and provide the audience with multiple choice options which can potentially contribute to fair and trusted surveys.

Audience Response in Group Scenarios

There are a huge amount of benefits from having audience response systems in group scenarios. They are capable of maintaining the attentiveness of an audience, whilst they also promote enjoyment and interaction, especially in conference or educational scenarios. The level of interaction that comes about as a result of audience response systems contributes significantly to the awareness of the audience, making the overall topic of the conference more memorable.

Examples of Audience Response Systems in Industry

Industries are already taking advantage of audience response systems to improve overall efficiency, so where exactly have they been used to full affect and how could they change the face of an entire industry in the future? Here are a few examples of where audience response systems could thrive:

Education

There’s no doubt that education is an industry that could benefit hugely from the introduction of audience response systems. The vast majority of lesson planning incorporates pupil activity and interaction, as this provides more of an enjoyable environment in comparison to other methods and techniques of teaching. Audience response systems could be easily integrated into class activities and ultimately provide pupils with more of an incentive to get involved with a particular topic.

Corporate Training

During corporate training, audience response provides trainees with an opportunity to stay engaged in what’s being taught, possibly through providing feedback or by answering questions displayed by the trainer themselves. You can negate the prospect of a tedious training atmosphere through improved audience interaction, similarly to that of an educational environment.

Market Research

A variety of industries, such as the retail industry, rely on market research to keep up to date with the latest developments in sales and customer interests, so it’s vital that market research can be carried out effectively and without any labouring effort.

What’s more, current market research techniques contribute towards inaccurate results that could easily be nullified by the introduction of audience response.

The usually time-consuming process could be made far easier through various meetings and audience gatherings that include audience response technology. Data could be collected quickly and efficiently, whilst results can be accessed almost instantaneously so that audience reactions can be analysed and acted upon.

Voting

Voting scenarios could be made much easier with the introduction of audience response systems. People could simply use the voting keypads provided to have their say in a vote, whilst their decision is rapidly sorted and added to a specific candidate party or individuals tally of votes. The results of the vote can then be easily sorted and accumulated without the potential for human error.

Game Shows

Audience response has been utilised throughout the history of TV quiz shows, with one of the most iconic examples being “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Game shows benefit from audience response as an added feature of a particular activity. In “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” the audience help the contestant through an “ask the audience lifeline”.

Conferences

Many conference scenarios already benefit from the use of social media. Press conferences tend to be reported back to society through social media outlets such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Audience response systems can also contribute to conferences when questions are displayed or individual feedback is required. With instantaneous data collected, audience opinion can be sorted and analysed quickly and efficiently.

To find out more about how our Audience Response Systems can benefit industry and your business as a whole, get in touch with CLiKAPAD today.

It’s important for many individuals, not just business leaders, to be aware of what it takes to conduct an effective workshop. Participants in your workshop will obtain new skills and information and should come away feeling a sense of accomplishment.

Audience Response Systems are used widely in modern-day business workshops and have promoted a participants ability to interact and learn actively. Here’s what you need to remember when conducting a workshop…

Define Your Objective

You should outline the goals of your workshop first, whether you are teaching a skill or providing the participants with specific information. Consider what you want people involved in the workshop to learn and think carefully about what it is you are hoping to accomplish. You will end up listing a few specific skills that will be focused on.

Know Your Audience

Do the workshop participants know each other? Will they possess the knowledge required to contribute in some way to the workshop or are they new to it completely? Are they required to be there as part of a training programme? It’s important to know your audience prior to the workshop and it will also dictate how you organise your workshop.

Prepare Participants for the Workshop

If you want your participants to be reasonably experience din the topic beforehand, provide some resources to work with a few weeks before. You need to clearly state your intentions when handing out any form of “homework”. Make sure they know how their home studying will benefit the workshop.

It would traditionally take services many weeks or even months to be prepared and deployed in the business environment, but the cloud has changed all this. It’s one of many benefits the cloud brings to the business environment. It is one of many technologies, along with Audience Response Systems, that have proved to benefit businesses in many ways over the last decade. Here are some of the benefits cloud computing brings to the table in the commercial environment…

Business Agility

The cloud allows for results to be delivered faster and with more quality, as well as for a cheaper price. This is one of many aspects that might give your business a competitive edge in the market. IT projects are a great example, as they are shortened with the help of this process so that results are delivered much more quickly.

Reduction in Operational Issues

You can deploy the same service repetitively with the help of cloud computing and this can be beneficial in a number of different ways. Standardised services significantly reduce potential issues and defects and increase business productivity. With the help of design patterns, these services can be deployed automatically when they are needed without required interference from employees.

Introducing New Business Models

Cloud services have made it easier for new business innovations and ideas to be put into practice. This ultimately leads to new value propositions and new revenue streams. Some businesses are already building new business models solely using cloud services. Spotify is a great example of this.

Business owners use conferences as the ideal opportunity for networking and this allows for the exchange of contact information with fellow entrepreneurs.

Introducing your brand in such a way to potential customers is one of the best ways to get your word out. However, all of this can become a whole lot more technology if you’ve neglected to keep up with the latest technologies. Here are some of the essential conference tech you’ll need to equip yourself with before the day arrives…

Apps and Notifications

Location-based marketing has given marketers the opportunity to keep attendees fully up-to-date with the latest news related to your product or conference if they are within a certain distance of the meeting area.

All the attendees need to do is have location services enabled on their smartphones. You could even use a special app to provide news and announcements to attendees, straight to their mobile devices.

High-Tech Projectors

There are now high-tech projectors available for you to make the most of, most of which are entirely different to the projectors available at business conferences of the last decade.

They are now far more sophisticated, especially at corporate gatherings and tech-based conferences. Cloud projectors can connect users directly to the home server so that content can be distributed in this way.

Using tablet or smartphone-based presenting is one of the most effective ways of establishing yourself as advanced beyond the laptop-projector combination of the old days.

Audience Response Technology

Audience Response Systems are a hugely beneficial way of gauging the reactions of your interest during a conference. Whether the event is large or small, you can integrate a complete system that’s suited to your specific goals and requirements for the conference.

Voting keypads can provide reliable feedback from each person, with the old-fashioned show of hands having a tendency to encourage a room to follow the crowd.

To find out more about our Audience Response Systems here at CLiKAPAD, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

We often struggle to come up with new, innovative ways to capture the full attention of our audiences and decide instead to stick tow what we know. However, trends are what dictate the success of everything from marketing slogans to business conferences, so only the newest and most creative approach will succeed. Here are three ways you can inspire a fickle audience at your next business conference…

Utilising the Latest Technology

The CLiKAPAD clicker systems are just one example of modern technology that is capable of enhancing audience experience in a business conference. There are plenty of other technologies out there capable of creating new marketing avenues for your business as well. Some of the many technologies utilised in business conferences these days as a means of offering something different include everything from voting keypads to 3D printers.

Using New Information to Answer Questions

Building a strong relationship with your audience has become more important than ever, with followers and ultimately potential customers emerging from social media platforms and other huge online communities. By providing information sourced from the latest findings related to your business you can build an excellent rapport with your target audience. You could even answer questions put to you with fresh, new information.

Video Is Everything

Well…almost everything. Marketing has become so focused on visual advertisements that YouTube videos now play a major role in selling to potential customers. Technology such as the GoPro camera have been used to bring visual marketing to a whole new level.

If you’re interested to find out more about our voting systems here at CLiKAPAD, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

A major part of today’s business marketing strategies fall under the mobile microscope. It is now essential for businesses to take full advantage of mobile devices when looking to advertise with a significant number of searches taking place on mobile phones.

In addition, social media is playing a bigger role than ever in attracting new customers or clients, with over-the-phone introductions and name cards no longer the only way for people to find out about a particular business or service. So how exactly has technology, including Audience Response Systems, impacted on modern marketing strategies? Here’s some intriguing facts and figures:

Mobile Marketing

46% of companies have a mobile version of their site and %30 more intend to expand to become mobile friendly

25% are already using mobile advertisements

43% have mobile apps available to download

Social Media Marketing

A third of companies are managing their own social media outlet

43% have their own online community

59% use blogging sites such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with their target market

The Role of Audience Response Systems

Audience Response is another huge part of the modern marketing technology drive. New ways to deliver information, track audience opinion and collect data received that is related to the business have made it much easier for business to know what their audience wants. With the help of fellow technologies, Audience Response has grown considerably and now has a significant say in how effective a marketing strategy becomes.

Audience Response is seen by many as a gateway to the next generation of brand marketing, with numerous new advertising techniques capable of being introduced at business events, conferences, market stalls and more.

Attracting new clients within your industry is the ultimate goal for most businesses and having Audience Response Systems on your side can help your business to achieve its fullest potential. Here are three ways Audience Response can impact on attracting and enticing new clients to purchase your services and/or products:

A Sign of the Future

Audience Response demonstrates you business’ capability to work with leading technology that collects information and digests it seamlessly, providing accurate results in-house and allowing you to focus more time into improving your services. This certainly doesn’t go unnoticed from the customers perspective and leads to your business getting more attention for its sheer determination to be the best it can be.

Immense Detail

Audience Response Systems allow for the collection of data directly from the target audience at events and conferences alike, so you know exactly how your potential clients or customers feel about a specific product and what is needed to change it. This level of detail is unparalleled when it comes to heading back to the drawing board.

Strong Delivery

Business conferences and other presentation events are further enhanced by the addition of Audience Response technology which grips the audience and makes them think more about what you have to say. You can incorporate anything from complex data analysis to fun quizzes into your presentation and either way you will impress.

Contact us

CLiKAPAD delivered a great service from start to finish. They offer a really personal touch and I felt supported by the whole team. Every time I call I am treated like a valued customer.

Katie Darby, Executive Assistant, Extrastaff Ltd

Having CLiKAPAD as part of The Solutions Awards really makes our event stand out above the others within our industry and adds an extra dimension of interaction that engages our guests and helps them get the most enjoyment from the awards….CLiKAPAD is a great company to work with.

David Gamage, Managing Director, Earth Island Publishing Ltd

The old voting method was archaic, but it was also cherished by many members. But this voting system is incredibly efficient and, aesthetically, it adds an interesting flare to our meetings.

Kristin Macey, Chairman, National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM)

We use Clikapad for our bi-weekly Student Council meetings. They’ve allowed us to cut down the time of these meetings considerably and made the process feel much more professional and smooth… Overall, using the voting pads has made the chairing of meetings easier and improved the democratic validity of our Student Council.